Pfizer has raised its financial guidance as its BioNTech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine continues to make gains, with the jab bringing in a total of $7.8bn in the second quarter alone.
In Q2, Pfizer’s revenues were up 86% operationally to $19bn – excluding sales of the BNT162b2 vaccine, revenues were still up 10% to $11bn.
Other notable gains in the quarter included rare disease medication Vyndaqel/Vyndamax, which was up by 77%, while sales of its anticoagulant therapy Eliquis were also up by 13% driven by continued uptake in the transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy indication in the US.
Outside the US, CDK4/6 inhibitor Ibrance was also up by 21%, while sales of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) Inlyta also increased by 29% globally following increased adoption in the US and Europe.
Sales of Pfizer’s immunology medicine Xeljanz were down by 15%, driven partly by a negative impact on new patients starting the therapy following an ongoing US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review into the safety data from a post-marketing study of the therapy.
In addition, sales of Ibrance in the US dropped by 7% as the number of patients accessing the therapy through Pfizer’s patient assistance programme increased.
For its 2021 revenue forecast, Pfizer raised its guidance to between $78bn and $80bn, up from the previous forecast of between $70.5bn and $72.5bn.
Pfizer also updated revenue assumptions related to BNT162b2, now expecting the vaccine to bring in approximately $33.5bn in 2021 – up significantly from the previous forecast of approximately $26bn.
Currently, Pfizer and BioNTech are expecting to manufacture up to three billion doses of the vaccine by the end of December 2021, although this may be adjusted in the future as additional contracts are signed.
“The second quarter was remarkable in a number of ways. Most visibly, the speed and efficiency of our efforts with BioNTech to help vaccinate the world against COVID-19 have been unprecedented, with now more than a billion doses of BNT162b2 having been delivered globally,” said Albert Bourla, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer.
“In addition, we are equally proud of the second-quarter performance of our business excluding BNT162b2, which posted 10% operational revenue growth,” he added.